I don't usually track the housing permits and starts as I think they are not the major problem currently, so I have no charts currently on them. I will talk about them as they are news that moves the markets.
Building Permits are the annualized number of new residential building permits issued during the previous month and are considered a gauge of future construction activity (construction activity generally permeates throughout an economy into other jobs). The forecasted number was 58 million new permits, but only 54 million were applied for (thus disappointing analysts).
Housing Starts are the Annualized number of new residential buildings that began construction during the previous month and is considered a gauge of economic health as well as construction ripples jobs throughout an economy. The forecasted number was 0.59 Million and the headline number came in at 0.61 Million, which was better than forecast but inline with the previous month so it did not really impress analysts.
We have bigger messes to clean up before this picture gets better and their is still a boat load of properties on the market and a boat load more about to be on the market when the foreclosure freeze is lifted. I don't see how new construction is needed or how it will do in the next few years. Building to build (i.e. building to inflate our economy) is the wrong answer. We need to expand our manufacturing and agriculture bases again and become more self reliant.
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